


Detroit: Become Christmas

by SluttyPamian



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Father Son Relationships, Gen, Hanukkah, Ice Skating, boyfriends being adorable, celebrating hanukkah, celebrating the holidays, family interactions, family portraits, no beta we die like men, story on hiatus until further notice, tags to be added as story is updated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-07 05:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16848325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SluttyPamian/pseuds/SluttyPamian
Summary: The holiday season settles over Detroit a year after the android revolution, bringing with it new traditions and old memories.





	1. Family Photos

**Author's Note:**

> Uh. Shitty summary is shitty I guess. Anyway, have some wholesome holiday cheer since tis the season and all! This is going to be a multi chapter story, and I'm hoping to have it updated every 3-4 days? It took me about 2 to finish the first chapter I think, hopefully this gets done before January lol.
> 
> This first chapter is about Connor and Hank, next chapter we're going to get to see our favourite assholes, Nines and Gavin.

Of all the holidays for Connor to become obsessed with, Hank should’ve known it would’ve been Christmas. Their first Christmas together left no time for celebration as Connor was still busy helping Markus after the revolution. There were still new laws to enact, and crime against androids was at an all time high despite them being considered citizens like everyone else. This year, things had time to settle down and Connor had time to get into the holiday spirit and actually have a chance to celebrate. It started with Hank buying Connor his first Ugly Sweater and went on from there. After getting his Ugly Sweater, Connor really got into character and started decorating the house with bright lights and gaudy tinsel on every surface. He even convinced Hank to go tree shopping with him and the pair had a real, live Christmas tree erected in their living room. Hank was certain that after the tree, things certainly couldn’t get any worse, and that Connor had exhausted all the Christmas cheer out of his system.

Hank was wrong.

“We’re going to be late if you don’t finish your breakfast Hank.”

Four days before Christmas, Hank should’ve been sleeping in and enjoying the vacation Connor had convinced him to take. However, the universe seemed to have different plans in store and instead Hank found himself trying to wake up in time to make it to an appointment Connor had booked them at one of the most well-known photography studios in Detroit. He had told Hank the night before he had booked the appointment so they could have their first (of many, Connor made a point of informing him) family Christmas photo. Hank had been tempted to argue, had been tempted to say that an android, washed up alcoholic of a man, and a St. Bernard didn’t make a family, but Connor’s bright eyes and happy smile stayed his tongue. Hank could let Connor pretend a little bit.

After breakfast, Connor coaxed Sumo into the back seat of the car and played navigator while Hank drove to the studio. They arrived on time to their appointment thanks to Connor’s excellent time management, and completed the check-in process. Connor was wearing his Ugly Sweater and Hank was wearing a green sweater vest with a gaudy tie filled with snowmen and reindeer Connor had found at a thrift store. They were both wearing khaki pants, and even Sumo had been skillfully affixed with a Santa hat by Connor’s steady hand. The photographer set up the camera and dropped down a large tarp showing a winter cabin with a smiling snowman in front of it. Once the camera and background were set up, the photographer directed Connor, Hank, and Sumo into position. They did all the usual poses, and it felt very stiff for Hank. He was reminded of why he doesn’t get his photo taken.

“Alright, that’s all the poses I have. We still have time to do more photos if the two of you would like to improvise?”

Hank sighed.

“Actually, I think we’re-”

He was cut off however by Connor scooping up Sumo with one arm, and the other wrapping around him. Sumo and Hank yelped in surprise, and the photographer chuckled and snapped a few pictures.

“Tell ya what, how about your son crouches down and hugs the dog, and dad, you give your boy a hug too while patting the dog?”

Connor beamed at the suggestion while Hank barely suppressed his annoyed face. The sooner the shoot was over, the better. He got into position with Connor, taking some solace at least knowing Connor was enjoying himself. When the session was over, Hank and Connor waited in the lobby for the photos to be printed and to receive the disk that held the digital version. When the pair got home, Connor wasted no time in finding a suitable frame to hold the picture where they were both petting Sumo. Hank avoided looking at the photo until later that night when Connor went into stasis mode. Connor’s smile was genuine, brilliant and heartwarming. It was so beautiful that it made Hank’s chest hurt thinking back to how dour he had been for the entire affair. It had been so long since he had any reason to be joyous during the holidays, Hank had forgotten what it felt like. He did have a reason to be joyous this year. Connor.

He hadn’t expected to ever find happiness after Cole, least of all not in an android that had upended his drink their first meeting. But somehow, against all odds, Connor had grown to be someone important to Hank. The realization brought tears to his eyes, and he looked at the photo in a new light. Body feeling heavy, he padded off to Connor’s room and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, he opened the door a crack and peeked in. Connor was in stasis mode already, LED a steady deep blue. Hank slipped into the room and sat on the edge of Connor’s bed to run his fingers through his hair.

“Connor? Could you wake up for a minute?”

Connor’s eyes flickered open at hearing his voice and he looked around the room, a sleepy look on his face.

“Hank? Is something wrong?”

Hank smiled warmly at him.

“No... I just didn’t tell you how much it meant to me that you wanted to get a family photo of us. I was so caught up in... Past stuff that I didn’t realize you were such an important part of my life.”

Connor sat up, and without hesitation Hank pulled him into a hug.

“Merry Christmas, son.” Hank murmured to the top of Connor’s head.

“Merry Christmas, dad.”


	2. Nines and Gavin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cold nights, warm hearts, Gavin proving he can't skate. Merry Christmas, tin can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me a couple extra days to get this posted I think, oh well. This was really fun and cute to write so I hope you liked it as well. I could tell it kinda dragged in a couple places, and got awkward around the ice rink part imo, but not too bad that I had to rewrite it a billion times.

The perks of being an android were often more enjoyable than the perks of being a wallflower. No getting cold, enhanced strength, and better balance were just to name a few. Gavin wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes he was jealous of the tin can walking stiffly beside him as they made their way through the crowded streets decorated by brilliant lights. Gavin was swaddled in layers of warm clothing, gloves, a hat, and a scarf by order of Nines. Even with all his warm clothes, Gavin still felt the cold slowly seeping into him and walked closer to his android companion.

“Once we reach our destination you will warm up.” He reassured the human.

Gavin snorted.

“Yeah, but until then I’m freezing my ass off. We should’ve taken the car.”

Nines looked at Gavin sideways with an uninterested expression.

“I’m pretty sure if I freeze to death, they’ll pin it on you.”

“You’ll conserve body heat if you don’t speak, Gavin.”

Gavin grumbled to himself and walked closer to Nines, hoping to shield himself from the bitter wind that whipped around them. Gavin had to admit, Nines’ broad shoulders were great protection from the elements. Cold weather aside, Gavin was actually enjoying his walk with Nines. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was happy that he could spend Christmas with the stoic android. By the time they reached their destination, an unassuming building, Gavin was thankful to be out of the cold. Inside the main lobby of the building was a directory of the services hosted. Nines walked right by it and Gavin followed, barely glancing at the directory since Nines seemed to know where he was going. The pair traveled to what seemed to be a basement level of the building and Gavin could hear the sounds of shouting and laughing. He was curious, Nines wasn’t typically the guy to engage in activities that resulted in anything fun. Last time he took Gavin along for a ‘date’, it was to a museum that showcased old technology that had become altered since the integration of androids. 

Not exactly the act of a true Casanova. 

A few more feet down a hallway, and the pair came to an open area that made Gavin pause in wonder. It was an indoor ice skating rink, only mildly warmer than the frigid air outside had been. Nines led them to a skate rental and paid for them both to have a set before leading Gavin to the ice.

“I recall you telling me of when you used to skate when you were younger. I’m sure you’ll need some help getting used to it again, so I will instruct you.”

Gavin put on his skates and allowed Nines to lead him to the ice on unsteady legs. He hadn’t put on a pair of skates in over twenty years and could barely even remember the basics. If it wasn’t for Nines’ steadying hand on his back, Gavin was sure he would be spending more time on his face than his feet. Nines on the other hand, the perfect machine he was, seemed to be having no trouble on the ice. While Gavin was finally getting the hang of moving forward at something quicker than a snail’s pace, Nines was spinning and jumping and making elegant turns. Gavin tried to copy him and succeeded in tumbling to his knees and scraping the palms of his hands until they were nearly raw. Nines returned to him after a particularly nasty tumble and helped him back to his feet.

“Allow me to lead you, Gavin.”

Before Gavin had any time to make a snarky response, Nines had taken him by the hand and was pulling him along on the ice. It was much easier for Gavin to allow himself to be led along by Nines, and was impressed that even leading someone else the android was easily the most elegant skater in the rink. He further impressed Gavin by suddenly picking him up and twirling across the ice with him in a tight spiral pattern. Gavin shouted out, not expecting to be lifted like he was nothing, and held onto Nines for dear life until he was back on the ice. Nines wasn’t done showing off however, and dipped Gavin while still propelling the two of them forward. When the dip was over, Nines pulled Gavin back up, held him aloft for a moment, then set him back on the ice with a quick kiss placed to his forehead. Gavin’s face flushed from the kiss and he mumbled a string of curses as Nines guided him to the edge of the rink.

“It’s time for our next stop Gavin, then we can go home.”

The next stop Nines was taking him to ended up being a twenty minute bus ride where Gavin updated his Instagram with a picture of his hand holding onto the sleeve of Nines’ jacket with the caption ‘one final stop with this asshole’. They disembarked the bus at one of the busier parts of Detroit, a large Christmas plaza with more lights and trees than a Meijer supercenter. The lights looked like something out of a Hallmark movie, and the sky was clear. As Gavin and Nines walked, the pair drew closer and Gavin had an arm wrapped around Nines’ waist without a care in the world. In the center of the plaza was a large tree that took nearly two weeks to get set up.

“Do you know this history of this tree?” Nines asked beside Gavin.

He shrugged.

“Never seen it before. Didn’t even know it was here.”

Nines pulled out a pair of binoculars from who-knows-where and handed them to Gavin.

“Residents of Detroit can mail in ornaments in November to be added to the tree. Most people mail in ornaments with family names, or portraits for sentimental reasons. I never really understood the practice myself-”

Nines squeezed Gavin around the middle then.

“Until we became a couple. Look at the tree, right of the cluster of four purple ornaments.”

Confused, Gavin lifted the binoculars to his eyes and scanned the tree where Nines instructed. He didn’t see anything noteworthy at first, until he spotted a plain ornament plaque with his name and serial number he could recite from memory. Underneath the name and serial number was a date he likewise would never forget, the day that he and Nines shared their first kiss. Gavin lowered the binoculars, lip quivering and tears threatening to spill from his eyes and freeze against his face. Nines was looking at Gavin, expression neutral as ever, but Gavin knew that nothing but love was pouring from him in that moment. He reached up to Nines’ face and cupped it in both of his hands, composure finally breaking and allowing the tears to roll down his own cheeks. He pressed his lips to Nines’ and allowed himself to get lost in the moment and didn’t pull away until he needed to breathe. Nines brushed away the tears from Gavin’s face before they froze and took back the binoculars.

“I understand that it is customary for those engaged in a romantic relationship to make holiday’s enjoyable for their partner. I hope that today has been satisfactory.”

Gavin pressed his forehead to Niles’ shoulder and chuckled. More tears fell, which he unceremoniously wiped against the stiff fabric of his jacket before looking back into Nines’ eyes.

“I’m pretty sure you make all of my days satisfactory tin can,” Gavin told him, voice thick with emotion.

“So yeah, today wasn’t that bad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, 2 chapters down, 4 to go! Next chapter we're going to see Alice, Kara, and Luther celebrating a nice family holiday together and I've got an idea that I'm researching I think y'all's will like.


	3. Family Holiday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry this update took so long. More details at the end, but basically google docs is a bitch and so is depression.
> 
> In this chapter, I wanted to do something special for everyone who celebrates Hanukkah and probably doesn't have a lot of fic at their disposal. I myself don't celebrate and don't have a great knowledge of the subject and tried to do some research but kinda got uh... Lost? I guess? In just all the information to take in. So instead of delving into the technical details, I just focused on some wholesome family interaction between Alice, Kara, and Luther as they try to have their first holiday season together.
> 
> I originally was going to have this proofread by a woman I work with who's actually Jewish so she could give me some pointers, but basically google docs was like "hey fam I'm just gonna nuke all your drafts" and I flipped every single desk I owned and never got it proofread but story of my life. There's a random OC in this, and she's actually a kinda nod/acknowledgement of the woman who was going to help me proofread.

While many families were busy decorating Christmas trees and setting up statues of Santa Claus and reindeer, others were celebrating a different way. Outside a small home in one of the new android housing developments, a YK500 in a puffy coat frolicked in the snow alongside a TR400 dressed in a less suitable turtleneck and cargo pants outfit. Beside them in the snow was a moderate sized castle about five feet tall, and a partial wall. The YK500 climbed carefully on top of the castle and stood proud on the ‘roof’.

“I’m the fairest princess in all the land,” She said with a dramatic swish of her arms, gesturing to the snow covered ground before her.

“Everyone far and wide knows knows of my grace and good will.”

The TR400 chuckled and bowed his head.

“You certainly are little one, every stuffed animal in the kingdom loves you.”

The YK500 clapped her hands excitedly.

“They love you too! You’re the best king ever!”

She jumped from the top of the castle and into the arms of the TR400 who caught her in a hug and spun her around as laughter peeled from her. 

“Luther, Luther! Will you toss me in the air and catch me?”

She didn’t have to ask twice. Luther smiled, adjusted his grip, and sent the YK500 into the air with his strength. Her joyous laughter continued to ring out, and the two played in the snow until the door to the house opened and an AX400 model android stepped out with a warm smile on her face.

“Alice, Luther, time to come in!”

Luther caught Alice as she came down and carried her back to the house, smiles on both of their faces.

“Kara! Do you see the super cool castle Luther helped me build? I’m a snow princess!”

Kara laughed merrily and took Alice into her arms. 

“I sure do, it looks like a great castle! Maybe tomorrow we can all go outside and play with it?”

Alice nodded excitedly and began stripping out of her coat once she was in the house. Inside, it smelled like wood and baked goods. Kara had been working all day to make it smell nice for the company they were going to have later to celebrate Hanukkah with. When Alice had been with Todd, he was normally too high on Red Ice to celebrate with. But this year, with Luther and Kara, they were going to celebrate with one of the neighbors who had been alone for the past six years. 

“Go get changed, and when you're done come help me set the table for dinner.” Kara instructed warmly. 

Alice nodded, and bounded off to her room. Luther and Kara both smiled fondly in her direction before meeting each other's gaze. 

“She's really happy to have you here.” Kara said with a soft voice. 

If Luther could blush, he would have. As it were, he rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. 

“I'm awfully glad to be here. I've never had a family before you and the little one.”

He reached for Kara's hand, his skin peeling back to reveal the plastic of his chasis. Kara did the same, and when their hands met a warm feeling of love and comfort passed between the two and Luther gently pulled Kara closer to him so he could kiss the top of her head. Her joy at the simple gesture sparked between them and echoed through their connection. 

“She's never really had a father figure before.” Kara said, her voice soft with melancholy.

“This year is important to her in more ways than one.”

Luther hummed. 

“I wish I knew more about Hanukkah. My model wasn't designed to be able to access too many databases, I've tried to read up on it, but I'm worried I might get it wrong.”

Luther's worry slowly crept into the transmission, which Kara beat back with her own love and reassurance.

“Don't think like that, you're going to do just fine.”

As if on cue, Alice bounded into the living room wearing a set of fluffy pyjamas. She went right for Kara and Luther, the skin on her face deactivating so she could press against them and join the connection. Kara and Luther both shared merry laughter that bubbled through to Alice, who's own joyous sounds joined the mix. A knock on the door caught them off guard and their skin crept back into place. Luther opened the door with a smile and ushered in the woman on the other side, their neighbor Kyle who was going to be celebrating with them. In her hands was a medium sized covered dish, and a small pack of flavoured thirium beverages. 

“I brought some traditional snacks for Alice, I knew she eats and figured it would be a nice contribution.”

Kara took the food and drink from Kyle while Luther took her coat and hung it by the door. Alice politely ducked her head and welcomed Kyle into their home, and thanked her for joining them for Hanukkah. They spent some time talking in the living room, and when it got darker they set up the menorah and Kara helped Alice to light one of the candles. They prayed together, Luther needing to refer to a piece of notebook paper to remember all the words and the pronunciation. Once prayers were said, everyone returned to the dining room so Alice and Kyle could eat, while Kara and Luther drank the thirium beverages. After dinner, Luther listened with rapt attention while Alice told him everything she knew about Hanukkah and played a game with a dreidel and pennies. 

As the evening turned into night and Alice was beginning to grow tired, the family said their goodbyes to Kyle and thanked her once again for coming over to celebrate. Kyle offered to have Alice come over so she could learn how to make latkes and even offered to teach Luther basic Hebrew so he could understand more of the prayers and even teach him the more detailed history of Hanukkah. It was an exciting offer Luther and Alice accepted with polite thanks, and Kyle said her final goodbye and began the short walk home. Alice was shortly put to bed while Kara and Luther worked together to clean up the kitchen. Once the mess was tidied away, Kara and Luther went to sit on the couch under a large comforter. Luther opened his arms and allowed Kara to comfortably slot herself against his body before closing his arms around her in a loose hug and dipping his chin down to rest atop her head. The two entered stasis like that, content, and dreaming of the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh yeah. Here's the chapter. Hope it was good etc. etc.
> 
> THE THING WITH GOOGLE (and all my fucking drafts)
> 
> So basically something hecked, and I lost every single draft of my fic that I've ever edited on my phone. Naturally, this is a huge blow to any author, especially one that does a lot of editing on the go and practically lives on google drive. So I lost the drafts to this fic and had to rewrite this chapter and part of the next chapter. Honestly, I probably could've had this chapter and the next chapter done by now but between the aggravation of losing all my drafts and general life/depression bullshit I've switched to full 'fuck it' mode, and this story is going to be on hiatus probably until next Christmas tbh.
> 
> I'm slowly getting my drafts back by going through some old phones and basically redownloading the saved device copies and rebuilding from there, and luckily I have a few drafts backed up on LibreOffice as well. 
> 
> Once this is posted, I'm taking a hiatus from the fic as mentioned to work on other things. Still DBH related probs because I *finally fucking own the game* and lemme tell ya,,,,,, the urge to fuck up Connor is s t r o n g.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think about this shorter, more wholesome fic, and stay tuned for more! If you'd like to join my Discord server, come by and say hello! A little note, my Discord server is strictly 18+ despite the fact this fic is quite tame :)
> 
> https://discord.gg/mRrBfy7


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